What is the Future of Chapel Hill Mall?

Chapel Hill once boasted three anchor stores, including Macy's which closed in 2016. That building is now being converted to storage units. The former Sears remains closed, and while the JCPenney is open, the company has closed stores around the country.

KABIR BHATIA
/ WKSU

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The future of Chapel Hill Mall

Akron used to be home to three shopping malls. Of the three, one is gone. Rolling Acres Mall shut its doors a little over 10 years ago and the property is being redeveloped. One appears to be doing well. Summit Mall maintains an attractive assortment of stores. The third is failing. Chapel Hill Mall has lost two anchor tenants and a number of stores.

"A lot of the parking lots are empty. That's the first thing you notice," she said. "There's a lot of graffiti on the walls, a lot of broken glass at the storefronts."

The inside looks a bit different. "The inside of the mall was clean, but spooky."

There were about 20 people roaming around the mall on a Tuesday. Two of the three anchor spaces are vacant. According to Hindi, 37 of the 62 spaces within the building are vacant.

Mehran Kohanseih owns 30 malls across the country, including Chapel Hill. The owner told Hindi he had no immediate plans for the mall. "It seems like he understands the reality of shopping malls and that a lot of them are on the decline," said Hindi.

Hindi used to enjoy the mall when she was younger.

"It's really haunting to be in there," she said. "My memories were visiting the mall, talking to Archie the Snowman and being a little terrified of Archie the Snowman. The mall still had Kaufmann's before Macy's, then Macy's and now it's a storage unit. It does makes me very wistful."

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Fifty years ago, when Akron’s first shopping mall opened, it marked a beginning of the migration of retail out of downtown. These days, that mall is struggling and customers may be heading back to Main Street. WKSU’s Kabir Bhatia looks at the future of retail in Akron.

The impending closure of Sears at Chapel Hill Mall is spurring talks between Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan, and the mayors of nearby Cuyahoga Falls and Tallmadge. Horrigan says he has reached out to discuss what the future of the mall may be once Sears closes this spring. He says he also reached out to the mayors last year when Macy's closed its Chapel Hill store.